IN THIS ISSUE:> Torture in the Philippines> Freedom Challenge Success> Are you #OpenToSyria?

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL - Youth Magazine TERM 1 // 2015

ACTIVE

“If it bleeds it leads”

You may have heard this quote before - it always applies to whether or not something

will get media coverage - the 30-second sound-bite, even that selfie that goes

ballistic on social media.

As a journalist I get it, as a human rights activist I hate it.

As the headlines revel in the latest ISIS atrocity, or mass killings of students in

Mexico or Pakistan, there’s a whole other story going down. Often unremarked in

mainstream media – yet totally remarkable.

How incredible it is that the brave people of Sri Lanka in January voted out the

Rajapaksa family - steeped in fear and violence - for the possibility of a better

future for all Sri Lankans – Tamil and Singhalese, Buddhist, Christian, Muslim and

atheist alike.

And if ever Amnesty International lived up to a tag it inspired of “a conspiracy of

hope” it was on December 24 last year. After 20 years of campaigning the world

finally agreed that its best chance at peace was an Arms Trade Treaty.

For longer than most of you guys have been alive Somalia has been a failed state

in the hands of brutal war loads. Yet in January, the Somali government ratified the

Convention on the Rights of the Child – a real commitment to this country’s future.

And in nearby Uganda the first of the Lords Resistance Army leaders was captured

and will face trial for crimes which include the use and recruitment of child soldiers.

As 2015 rolls out – I can’t guarantee you the headlines, but what I can promise is

that the student activism that Amnesty International in New Zealand excels at, will

deliver small and big victories alike.

How do I know? For the past 20 years I’ve walked hand-in-hand with student

activists who thought I was supporting them but who in reality delivered on my

campaigning promises, inspired and humbled me with activism that had “winner”

all over it.

YOUth activists have always been MY conspiracy of hope.

MargieActivism Support Manager

A NOTE FROM MARGIE

Margie taking action for Prisoner of Conscience Liu Ping.

Front cover imag

e:

The graffiti out

side our office

in Auckland. We amend

ed it to

recognise the ch

ildren of

Peshawar, Pakista

n, killed by the

Taliban at the en

d of last year.

Original artwork

is Banksy

Graffiti Art ©w

ithsyria.com

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EDITORIAL

MEET OUR YOUTH INTERN

HANNA GRAFHey everyone, My name is Hanna, I am a 20 year-old from Germany studying Interna-tional Relations and Management and I am very much looking forward to being your new Youth Activism Intern! I decided to become involved with Amnesty International during my voluntary year in Taizé, France. In Taizé, young people from all over the world come together to have a great time but also to talk about serious issues like human rights. So, I learnt that many of these young people had to fight for rights that I always took for granted. That experience completely changed my view on the world! It really impresses me what a difference young people can make in the world - even a more important one than politicians could ever do! Therefore I am very happy to get to know all of you, to get inspired by you and to put your creative ideas into action. Let’s get it started!

Hanna

EXCITING TIMES for YOUTH ACTIVISM in NEW ZEALAND

Creating lifelong human rights activists has alway been our aim at Amnesty International. And this year we’re taking two steps to make sure we start that journey sooner and support it even better.

For the first time we’re actively going out to Intermediate schools and outreaching to existing high schools with Amnesty groups with a new social studies curriculum resource that will provide New Zealand resources for teachers and students alike.

We’re trialling it in Auckland this year and if you’re interested in being part of that trial or seeing the resource please email margaret.taylor@amnesty.org.nz

We’re delighted to be starting our first full-time Youth Co-ordinator: Miriam Pierard.

Kia ora tatou!

I am hugely excited to be taking on this new role as your Youth Coordinator. One of the many things that I admire about Amnesty International is the Organisation’s dedication to enabling young people to recognise and use their power to effect positive change.

As a social sciences teacher and Amnesty International school group facilitator, I have been inspired by the incredible passion and empathy that teenagers have for their human community in New Zealand and beyond. I am looking forward to collaborating with teachers and students across the country to channel this energy into activism and the promotion of human rights.

I look forward to connecting with you and hearing about the wonderful ideas and actions that are happening at your schools across Aotearoa.

Ka kite ano and all the best for 2015. It’s going to be a great year!

Miriam

INTRODUCING.....

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TORTURE.MORE FUN IN THE

PHILIPPINES...?The Philippines will be our focus country for the first half of this year for our global Stop Torture campaign, which we launched last year.

We’re particularly asking our Youth Network to take part in this part of the campaign because in the Philippines, authorities routinely torture children. Twenty-one of 55 chilling testimonies within our latest report: ‘Above the law” were from people who were children when tortured.

How could anyone torture in the first place, let alone a child?

A key reason is that you can get away with it when you torture in the Philippines – particularly if you’re a police officer.

Since 2009, when this country introduced the progressive Anti-Torture Act not a single official has been convicted. This despite the fact that 80% of complaints of torture received by the Philippines Commission of Human Rights in 2013 involved police officers.

“Too many police officers in the Philippines are all gun and no badge - abusing their power while making a mockery of their duty to protect and serve the people,” said Salil Shetty, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, when he launched “Above the law” in the capital Manila in December.

The launch of this report, alongside the hundreds of thousands of actions taken by Amnesty International supporters calling for justice for torture survivors in the Philip-pines, has had an impact.

An inquiry into police torture in the Philip-pine Senate took place in mid-January - a direct result of our campaigning.

It supported Amnesty International’s call for putting in place two truly independent systems: One for monitoring places of detention and one unified and effective in-stitution to investigate and prosecute police abuse

But those words must be turned into action - because we’ve heard all these promises before.

Which is why we need to keep the pressure on decision makers for lasting change. On the following pages you’ll find a range of actions that you can take until the end of May. So please do plan your activities throughout Term 1.

Images below: Left: Action against torture in the Philippines. Right: Amnesty International in the Philippines with the United Against Torture Coalition and the Commission on Human Rights carries the Wheel of Justice with echoing shouts from civilians to “Stop Torture!” © Jepie Papa / Amnesty International

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The torturers of Julius (not his real name) have still not been brought to justice.

Julius was 16 when he was arrested in 2012 accused of stealing earrings. He told Amnesty International that when the police saw him, they said, “You’re here again, we should have killedyou the first time.” But Julius insisted it was the first time he was ever arrested. Four police officers then placed three bullets in between his fingers and

squeezed the fingers together fiercely. “It was very painful. There were marks on my fingers even after they took the bullets out,” he said. “They beat me with a truncheon on my soles. It was many times, I lost count.” When asked if he filed a complaint, Julius said: “I wanted to file a complaint because I know what they were doing is wrong but I fear that they will kill me.” He added, “It’s better to be jailed at once than be interviewed by the police, because the police will kill you.”

EVEN CHILDREN ARE TORTURED IN THE PHILIPPINES

“I used to want to be a policeman when

I grew up, but seeing how they operate,

I have now given up on that dream…I

can’t forget what they did to me. I will

never forget.”

- Jonathan, arrested aged 17 for robbery

in Metro Manila

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STOP TORTURE

If you have links with the Philippine community in New Zealand please do outreach to them and encourage them to take action with you.

Photocopy, circulate and collect signatures on the enclosed petition to Philippines President Noynoy Aquino.

The President must ensure that no one is above the law through effective investigations, robust prosecutions, and the establishment of an independent police complaints commission

Photocopy, circulate and seek signatures on our enclosed “Jeepney” action cards seeking justice for Jerryme Corre. This “jeepney” driver (Philippines taxi) suffered shocking torture at the hands of police after they accused him of killing a police officer. Refusing to confess, he has spent more than two years in prison on a charge of possessing drugs. His torture allega-tions have been ignored. You can also take action online: www.amnesty.org.nz/takeaction

Sign our online petition on behalf of torture survivor and single Mum Alfreda Disbarro and share with your friends and family. Despite the Philippines Commission on Human Rights confirming her torture allegations they are still to be investigated and she remains in prison based on a confession obtained through torture. www.amnesty.org.nz/takeaction

On 28 January last year an infamous “torture wheel” was found in a secret police detention centre. Detainees were forced to spin it and police visited whatever torture on the pris-oners the wheel landed on. Use our “spoof” “Wheel of Torture video (www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aLVmy9ivdk) to highlight just how widespread torture in the Philippines really is.

Also use the country’s promotional line of “It’s more fun in the Philippines” to collect on and off–line signatures on all petitions and appeals.

You can also target President Aquino by organising a photo action. Ask group members and supporters to take a picture of themselves next to the banner “Stop Torture. Start spinning the wheel of justice”. Upload your pictures and send to President Aquino to his email op@president.gov.ph, Twitter: @noynoyaquino, or Facebook: www.facebook.com/president-noy and copied to campaigns.intern@amnesty.org.nz.

TO DO LIST

Key dates:

17 February -Jerryme Corre’s birthday.

26 June - International Day for victims of torture, and global petition delivery in the Philippines.

Don’t forget!

Please return all petitions

and Jeepney actions to

Youth Intern, Amnesty

International, PO Box

5300, Wellesley Street

Auckland by Monday, 1

June, or sooner if

completed.

TAKE ACTION

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STOP TORTURE

TAKE ACTION:2014 finished with a great end as we received the news that on 29 December two more of the N!DA activists, Zaur Gurbanli and Uzeyir Mammadli were released as a result of a presidential pardon.

The release followed the exciting news in October that Shahin Novrzulu and Bakhtiyar Guliyev, were also pardoned! All four are now home with their families.

Levan Asatiani, Campaigner for South Caucasus and Ukraine, adds his thanks to ours to all of you who took action during Freedom Challenge 2014.

Your powerful voices were heard all the way in Azerbaijan.

“It is nice to

see all these pictures and materials

that show how much work Amnesty

International New Zealand has put

in the N!DA case. Many thanks for

your work once again.”

What made your voices even louder was the fantastic media coverage you generated through your activism during Freedom Challenge 2014.

Every bit of it was sent to President Aliyev. The President is very sensitive to bad publicity. Your great media coverage proved very bad publicity for him and his country

And then there were the petitions and letters you generated - all 6430 of them.

Every single one of them was sent to President Aliyev.

Along the way you exceeded our targets - letters by 1,430, and fundraising by $1,418.03.

Freedom Challenge 2014 also saw three new school groups start and two lapsed groups sparked back into activism. Amazing!!

N!DA ACTIVISTS RELEASED!

To continue campaigning for Mammad Azizov, Rashad Hasanov, Ilkin Rustamzade and Rashadat Akhundov the four N!DA guys still in prison please write a polite letter to President Aliyev thanking him for pardoning four of the N!DA activists and urging him: • to release Mammad, Rashad, Ilkin and Rashadat immediately

• to investigate the allegations of torture made by the N!DA activists

• to allow N!DA to continue its peaceful activities without further prosecutions

Send your messages to:President Aliyev care of his office - office@pa.gov.az or the President’s official online letter form site http://en.president.az/letters/send

President Aliyev is also very active on social media - and we encourage you to be equally active in support of N!DA http://www.youtube.com/presidentazhttps://twitter.com/azpresidenthttps://twitter.com/presidentaz

We will not stop campaigning until the remaining four N!DA activists are also free and an impartial investigation has been carried out into the allegations of torture.

Released - clockwise: Uzeyir Mammadli, Bakhtiyar Guliyev, Zaur Gurbanli, Shahin Novruzlu.

Still detained - clockwise: Mammad Azizov, Rashad Hasanov, Ilkin Rustamzade, Rashadat Akhundov.

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FREEDOM CHALLENGE

Maha’s Story...Maha is an eight-year-old girl from Syria. After a missile strike destroyed her home in Aleppo city and killed both of her parents, she fled to Tur-key with her uncle.

Their new “home” in the Turkish town of Akçakale is a concrete shell – there are three walls, but no door, no toilet, no beds, and no washing or cooking facilities. She drinks water from a hose, survives on food col-lected by refugees in a nearby camp, and suffers skin rashes, diarrhoea and colds. As a result of the trauma she suffered, Maha no longer speaks, and there is no support available to her and her uncle.

Maha is one of nearly 4 million refugees who have fled Syria in the last three years. With no end in sight to the conflict, this number continues to grow.

As the conflict in Syria heads into its fifth year the international response to the crisis has been pitiful and some of the world’s richest countries have failed in their responsibility to protect Syria’s most vulnerable refugees.

This is now the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis. But most Western governments have still only allowed a few handfuls of people the life-changing opportunity to settle in their countries.

Syria’s neighbours - Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey - have disproportionately shouldered the responsibility to receive the refugees. But these countries can no longer cope.

Conditions on the ground in these countries are extremely difficult for refugees, who struggle daily to access their basic human rights including access to adequate health care for themselves and their families, access to adequate accommodation, food, clean water and education for their children.

ABANDONED BY THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITYSYRIA: THE CONFLICT

Amnesty International wants the world’s richest countries to open up to the 10% of Syrian refugees who need it most in 2015 and 2016 – 380,000 people in total.

We want countries, including New Zealand, to share the responsibility of Syria’s refugees by increasing humanitarian funding and opening up extra places for resettlement.

Resettlement is giving

vulnerable refugees a

life-changing

opportunity to start

new lives abroad.

WHAT CAN THE WORLD DO TO HELP?

ARE YOU OPEN TO SYRIA?

Outside Akçakale refugee camp.

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REFUGEES

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO HELP?

On 28 February we’ll be launching a global campaign called #OpenToSyria.

By opening our hearts, minds and communities to Syria’s refugees, we can show our leaders that we are willing to share this huge responsibility with Syria’s neighbours, and give some of the world’s most vulnerable people the chance of a safe, peaceful life.

Get together with your youth group and take photographs to express your commitment and desire to welcome Syria’s refugees into your neighbourhood, community, city and country via resettlement.

Invite your friends, family and other members of your community to take part and get creative. Is there a particular place that is iconic to your town? Get in front of it and create a message showing that you’re #OpenToSyria.

Please make sure you wait until the 28 February before you share any of your photos online - if we all do it together we’ll have a greater impact.

From the 28 February post your photos on your own social accounts - Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook - tag us in @amnestynz facebook.com/AmnestyNZ (make sure you like us first) and use #OpenToSyria. Also make sure you send us your photos - youth.in-tern@amnesty.org.nz so we can include them in our global petition.

We’ll also be launching a petition at a later date so keep an eye on our website and the Youth Network updates for more information.

On 20 June 2015 - World Refugee Day - your photos will be hand-ed over to our Government to show them that people all around New Zealand welcome Syrians into their communities and they want the NZ government to step up and do more to protect Syria’s most vulnerable refugees.

Syrian refugees in a refugee camp in the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon

OPEN YOUR EYES OPEN YOUR HEART OPEN YOUR ARMS #OPENTOSYRIA

Below: Showing we’re #OpenToSyria in Auckland

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REFUGEES

CHRISTMAS TREES WITH A MESSAGEA Christmas tree display was used to send a powerful human rights message by Hamilton brothers Josh and Adam Nachowitz. The pair help run Amnesty groups at Hillcrest High School and Berkley Normal Middle School, respectively. Berkley created a Refu-Tree Tent to raise awareness about issues that refugees face. Inside were notes and food and water rations for a day. Notes read,“The poorest coun-tries have the most refugees, the richest the least”. The Amnestree was Hillcrest High’s offering inspired by the candle circled in barbed wire design of the Amnesty International logo. The tree was symbolic of not only light in the darkness, but also the power of collective voices in making a positive change for human rights.

“Myself and the rest of the Hillcrest

High group were thrilled with the

display at Trees at the Meteor, and

the interest and awareness it raised

for Amnesty International and their

work in Hamilton”

- Jo

sh Nachowitz.

“Good publicity, the venue was packed with people while we were there. It was good to see patrons come and look at the trees and hear them talk among themselves about Amnesty.”- Hamilton Amnesty International Group Co-ordinator Sabine Pahl.

JOIN US FOR PRIDE PARADE

Amnesty International at Pride Parade 2014.© Rachel Banfield.

If you’re in Auckland on 21 February then please join us for Pride Parade. Just email events@amnesty.org.nz to let us know.

We’ll be marching down Ponsonby Road and saying loud and proud that we believe that all people, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, should be able to enjoy the full range of human rights! Love is a Human Right!

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NEWS, EVENTS & UPDATES

SENDING A SMILE TO PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE

The solidarity messages from Baradene College, Auck-land, written on behalf of our five Write for Rights cases are guaranteed to bring a smile and a lift in the spirits of those who are in prison. “Even giraffes get sad sometimes.... Just keep your head up” was one such message sent to Moses Akatugba in Nigeria, while China’s Liu Ping was told “I’m extremely proud and thankful on behalf of the human race for all you’ve done for human rights...... Thank you, thank you and remember that we are here fighting for your freedom.”

SAVE THE DATEA youth conference to give Amnesty International student activists the chance to put into practice and learn leader-ship skills.

That’s the vision of St Peter’s College Amnesty group teacher co-ordinator Roger Groenink, who is keen to see the inaugural event St Peter’s will host in May grow into an annual event hosted by other schools in Auckland, with aspirations to go nationwide.

Picking up on Amnesty International’s global Stop Torture campaign as an over-arching theme top-ics can be as widespread as Guantanamo Bay through to the current Philippnes campaign focus.

Speakers, films, presentations, power points and workshops will be part of the weekend with school Amnesty International groups encouraged to deliver presentations and/or breakout sessions.

The inaugural conference will be limited to Auckland schools but teacher co-ordinators from outside of Auckland will be invited to attend the conference with a view to running similar confer-ences in other centres around the country

When: 8-9 May Where: St Peters, 23 Mountain Road, Grafton, AucklandInterested in hearing more?: Contact Hanna Graf - youth.intern@amnesty.org.nz

Auckland Schools’ Amnesty International Conference

Baradene College’s efforts were part of the 2553 letters sent from New Zealand and contributing to the over 3 million sent worldwide. A record breaking effort in the world’s largest human rights event.

As for school leaver Binal Patel, she took part in Write for Rights at home, “because I felt it important for us as future leaders to take action and show the perpetra-tors of human rights abuses that what they are doing is wrong and that we will take a stand against it. Also, even though one letter doesn’t seem like much when it all adds up it does make a big difference.”

The amazing pile of letters from Baradene College

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NEWS, EVENTS

MYANMAR: DR TUN AUNG FREE

We received the fantastic news that peaceful activist Dr Tun Aung, was released from prison in Myanmar on 20 January.

Dr Tun is a Muslim community leader and medical doctor, who was first jailed in 2012 after trying to calm the crowd during a riot involving Buddhists and Rohingya in Rakhine State. He was sentenced to up to 17 years’ imprisonment under various trumped-up charges.

In October 2012 Amnesty International designated Dr Tun Aung a Prisoner of Conscience. The following year, he was chosen as one of the focus cases of Amnesty International’s annual “Letter Writing Marathon”. According to a letter from Myanmar’s National Human Rights Commission, the letters they received from Amnesty International members prompted them to look further into his case.

LORDS RESISTANCE ARMY LEADER CAPTURED

Recruited as a 10-year old child soldier himself, Dominic Ongwen of the Lords Resistance Army (LRA) will now face trial for recruiting and using child soldiers, amongst other charges.

Ongwen was picked up at the start of January and has now been transferred to the Hague in the Netherlands to face justice, where both his crimes but also the fact that he himself was a victim of grave human rights abuses will be taken into account.

Ongwen’s capture is a step towards justice for the victims who have suffered brutality at the hands of the LRA for more than two decades.

© Private

photo courtesy of Interpol

A country better known for conflict has committed to a better future for its children by ratifying the UN convention on the rights of the child in January.

Somalia became the 195th state party to ratify the treaty leaving only the USA and South Sudan, who haven’t.

SOMALIA: CHILDREN’S CONVENTION RATIFIED

NIGERIA: VICTORY AS SHELL FINALLY PAYS UP

Oil giant Shell’s long-overdue compensation pay out to a community devastated by oil spills in the Niger Delta is an important victory for the victims of corporate negligence.

After decades of blaming anyone else for the ecological disaster in the Niger Delta, Shell has been forced to point the finger at itself. In early January the company made an out-of-court settlement of £55million (around 113m NZ$) and admitted to telling lies during the course of the legal process.

“I am very happy that Shell has finally taken responsibility for its action,” says Pastor Christian Kpandei, a Bodo fish farmer, whose farm was destroyed by the oil spill. “I’d like to thank the lawyers for compelling Shell to make this unprecedented move.”

Thank you to all of you who called on Shell to Own Up. Pay Up. Clean Up.

The compensation is a step towards justice for the people of Bodo, but justice will be fully achieved when Shell properly cleans up the heavily polluted creeks and swamps so that those who rely on fishing and farming for their income can begin to rebuild their livelihood

300,000 signatures for Shell. © Jorn van Eck/Amnesty International

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GOOD NEWS